Horns hold on for narrow win against K-State

Free throws by Paulino help UT get best of K-State

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, February 23, 2006

MANHATTAN, KAN. - As Texas coach Rick Barnes put it, being at the top of the Big 12 standings this late in the season is like walking into an alley with a big target on your back.

Kansas State almost jumped from out of nowhere to shock the seventh-ranked Longhorns on Wednesday night.

Texas narrowly escaped a second straight loss as Kenton Paulino hit four free throws in the final 16.2 seconds for a 65-64 victory over Kansas State before a crowd of 8,852 at Bramlage Coliseum. The Longhorns (23-4, 11-2), coming off an 81-60 loss at Oklahoma State, remained tied with No. 16 Kansas for first place in the Big 12 entering Saturday's showdown with the Jayhawks in Austin.

Lead nearly gets away

Texas led by as many as 10 points early in the second half only to see Kansas State pull within a point twice in the final six minutes.

"With four or five games left in the season, (a win) can swing a whole season around for anybody in this league," Barnes said. "There are teams fighting for postseason play, and we make your résumé look pretty good."

In position to pull off a second upset of the Longhorns in two years, the Wildcats got within one at 61-60 on a jumper by David Hoskins with 3:01 left.

From there, however, Kansas State (14-10, 5-8) went without a field goal until Mario Taybron's 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Texas nearly blew it down the stretch with Daniel Gibson and P.J Tucker missing 1-and-1 free-throw chances in the final 41 seconds. Brad Buckman came down with a key rebound off Tucker's miss with 20 seconds left and passed to Paulino, who was fouled with 16.2 seconds remaining.

Paulino hit both free throws for a 63-60 lead.

Still, the Wildcats had a chance to tie the game as Texas went the final 4:10 without a field goal. With 3.7 seconds remaining, Hoskins hit his first free throw, but his second attempt missed the rim completely, giving the Longhorns possession. Paulino was immediately fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and made both free throws for a 65-61 lead.

Gamble fails

"I knew it had to hit the rim before it could be in play," Hoskins said. "I was trying to let it hit the backboard first and then the rim so we could get a high bounce and we could have a chance to get it."

The Wildcats were forced to play most of the game without leading scorer Cartier Martin, who picked up three fouls in the opening 4:25 and did not return until the second half. Martin, a 6-7 junior from Nimitz averaging 18.7 points, was held to a season-low five points and one rebound in 17 minutes.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 points, and Gibson had 13 points on a rough 4-for-15 shooting night.

The victory was the 1,500th in UT history and only the second in 10 trips to Manhattan.

"Winning a game like this might be better for us that if we won with an eight-or nine-point spread because we had to work," Barnes said. "We didn't come in here thinking it would be easy."